Toothless Jerry

The first tooth in our family has fallen out! Christian lost his first tooth this week. While it was loose he was terrified of it hurting when his tooth falling out. He was imagining an immense amount of pain, so he wasn't looking forward to it and we weren't pushing the issue. We just told him to wiggle his tooth and if it hurt to stop wiggling it. This made him a little less fearful and participate in the tooth wiggling.

On Sunday night, while watching TV, he noticed that his tooth was missing. He looked around for it, but couldn't find it. His Mom eventually found it in the carpet. He was so happy that he came running downstairs to show me. He was excited that it didn't hurt and that the tooth fairy was going to visit him. We put the tooth in a bag so he wouldn't lose it and examine it a bit more. He was a bit scared about the dried blood still inside the tooth and had to verify that he wasn't bleeding. He hates his own bleeding. Once he was assured he wasn't bleeding he was jumping around all excited about his tooth falling out. He had to call his Grandma Marie to tell her about it and to brag that she didn't get to pull it out!

Before he went to bed he made sure he had his tooth under his pillow. We asked how much he thought the tooth fairy was going to bring him. He thought 10-15...DOLLARS! We said it might be less, so don't be surprised, eventually he lowered his expectations to pennies, but the tooth fairy had a light night so he got $1.50. I'm not real sure how his reaction to that went, but overall he enjoyed his first experience with the tooth fairy.

0 To 60

Huts' company held a festival this weekend, and we took the kids. Christian misunderstood and was expecting a bounce house. He was ticked off when we got there and threw a little fit. That soon changed, however, when he got into things. He started with the tractors and moved on to the games while Tori got her face painted. By the time, I made my way back to him and his dad, he was one happy camper. He went to the bounce houses while Tori took a pony ride. Then they both went through the bounce house before the rain shut them down. They ate snow cones and fed the animals. Christian took a tour of an old farmhouse. The day ended with a Monster truck ride, to which he exclaimed, "was the most awesome ride ever!" Our studious child is turning into a real boy! He shocked his dad by announcing he wanted to join the Cub scouts. Tonight is the info meeting for that!

Ready To Go

Christian was ready to get to school this morning. Not really sure why. Could be he has several new friends in before and after care. mostly kindergartners and first graders, I think. They must ooh and aah over his Lego creations, which makes him feel great. Tonight is Back-To-School Night for Parents. I am going to Christian's class and Huts is going to Tori's. It should be loads of fun. I have never met Christian's teacher and look forward to hearing all about second grade.

Old Hat

Christian is an old hat at going to school by now, but he has had his usual trepidations. Any change is still stressful for him, so starting another year of school was too. He started whimpering about going to school the night before. Then he complained about his glasses not being clean after being cleaned 10 times! He whimpered a little bit while walking to line up for his first day, but after he saw some of his friends he was fine. He was happy all during school and after school, so he wasn't too traumatized. 2nd day he had no problems and was first in line and ready to go. This morning he was excited to get to before care so he could build with the Lego's. Another parent who was having a hard time getting her child to separate from her had Christian try to entice her child in to building with him, but Tresa didn't stay around to find out the result. I'm sure he'll be excited after a full day of school and before/after care. He's off to another good start this year.

Happy Campers

Two half days and finally one full day of school. Christian and Tori got up early and headed off for their first full day of school. Christian could not wait to get to before care. He didn't even tell me good-bye, just dropped his bag and headed for the Legos. Tori, meanwhile, chatted with Miss Becky about her name and what she could do. She barely even told me good-bye. These two don't need Mom or Dad now that they are in school. Another boy, however, was having a difficult time letting go of his mom and telling her good-bye. He was hanging on for dear life when I left.

Lego Mania

Christian has a rather large shelf for all of his Lego creations, which is nearly full. I dusted it the other day, and of course, several pieces came loose. Christian has a pile of Lego's to reattach and he does not seem enthused. He is happy, however, about the party he gets to attend at the bowling alley on Saturday. Tori, Eli and I are going swimming while he parties! Should be a fun day for all, even Huts who will be miles away jumping out of an airplane!

Party Pooper

Christian is turning over a new leaf and avoiding us as much as possible these days. While his sociable siblings dance around outside and go to places like Jillian's with games. Christian stays inside or at home with Mom. He loves building with Legos in front of the TV and would rather spend the weekend doing that than anything else. This weekend, he is in for a big surprise when we force him to go the park and have a little fun. He'll gripe but have fun once he gets there.

I am ready for school to start so he will have no choice but to play at recess and socialize with his friends! School should yank him out of some of his desire to be a hermit. Huts had to explain that word to him the other day. That was a fun conversation!

Lego Obsession

We all know that Christian is obsessed with Legos, and yesterday, he added to his collection with another Space Police purchase. He had that thing together in less than an hour, or so it seemed. Of course, he still has a couple of Toy Story Lego sets in pieces in the middle of his bedroom floor. Eli wrecked the train set, while the babysitting kids wrecked Buzz's ship. Who knows when he put those back together. I made him reconstruct some other stuff this weekend, and he was less than pleased. He loves Legos, but on his terms, of course.

Creaping Up The Charts

Last week Christian got his yearly physical before school. He is going to be a tall skinny kid growing up. He is about 13 inches shorter than his Mama and he is only 7! He is also 60 lbs. The boy just keeps growing, he grew 3 inches in the past year. Everything checked out fine for him, except he was hot and sweaty from running around the new doctor's office. They had a projector that cast images on the floor that the kids could interact with and Christian ran like crazy all over the floor. He was already to go and was the perfect model patient.

In other Christian news, he is still king of Lego's and regularly plays with his Lego's and requests new sets. He recently got the train from Toy Story 3 with 584 pieces and put it together by himself in about 3 hours. His Mom teased him that we were going to find a set for Christmas that would take him all day to put together. I'm sure it would be rather large. He is also figuring out things more, he can get himself on Lego.com and plays their games and navigates the sight all by himself. He's got the remote somewhat figured out, but he still doesn't quite get the concept of the telephone completely. He answers, says "Hello" while holding the phone several inches from his face and then hands it to us because he can't hear anything. He's also getting more of his snacks and food on his own. He's getting big really fast. In about 6 weeks he'll be headed to 2nd grade. I'm sure he'll learn a lot more things that we are wrong about once he starts.

Happy 4th of the July

We had a very busy weekend in the Erickson household. The weekend started on Friday with a day for Mom and Dad. We used our massage gift certificates, ate lunch and took a walk. After that it was time to pick up the kids and start the fun with them. They played in the water off and on all weekend, in the sprinkler, on the slip'n'slide, with water guns and with water balloons. They played with each other and with the neighbor kids. We also took them to the Fourth of July parade and Wildlife Prairie Park. where they had a ball on the 18-foot slide. There was no fear as the three of them took off and went down that long, long slide.